Thursday, January 30, 2014

Is the old Jack hiding in the Vatican?

Not everyone remembers this but Jack from the Jack in The Box showed up to save the company which almost died of e-coli.

When I was a kid you'd go to a Jack in The Box drive-thru and you'd actually talk into a clown head to order. They had a big ad campaign when they updated their image and ditched the clown, commercials of the clown being blown up with dynamite and such.

Then, in the early 90s three kids died of e-coli linked back to tainted meat served by Jack in The Box. It hit the company hard as you can imagine. Dead kids equals terrible PR. Sales plummeted and stock value crashed. They were in trouble.

In 1994 Jack came back in the very original and often controversial (Jack blowing up a room full of the suits who'd gotten rid of him) commercials and the public loved it. This new Jack with the normal human body and ridiculous head was a hit. And we forgot all about the e-coli and the dead kids.